Programme takes up to 3 hrs to load??

Hi,
A friend bought a workshop manual for all Renault cars off ebay to view/run on his PC. It came on one CD and 2 DVDs and he claims took over 2 hours to load (CD 30 mins, DVD 1 45 mins, DVD 2 75 mins).
He also said it used up all the available hd space on his daughters xp laptop (40gb capacity).
I have 2 questions:
1, Is it unusual for a programme to come on 3 discs and take up so much room?
2, it says it can run on xp but not W7. Isn't there a facility on W7 where you can run xp programmes?

If you type Renault scenic workshop manual into ebay, it is the one for sale at £2.99 and 80p postage.
I've just determined that the laptop he used is very old and probably full of viruses so that's why it took so long.
So the only problem now is getting to use it on W7?

Having purchased a number of these 'dealership workshop-service manual' disks via eBay, I usually find that they can contain a awful lot of information covering a large range of vehicles and components, so initial loading may take some considerable time. The various items are usually in sections, which are selectable. Usually one disk is supplied, but depending on seller, other disks possible.

Some of these disks (most I find) are simply copies of copies, which can produce there own problems on not loading correctly,poor quality or even containing virus's. You may also find that the information was originally pass key coded, which as now been de-activated.

They were originally intended to load on something like XP. Vista can be more difficult, and W7, especially the 64 bit might be impossible. The seller will usually provide simple loading instructions, with the offer of replacement or refund. The seller's feedback might indicate this.

Considering that the original software may have cost £hundreds to the dealer or manufacturer, then £3.79 isn't a bad price to pay, especially if they work, first time every time, after being loaded on a computer?.